JERBOAS AND JUMPING MICE. 43 



complicated system of passages leading from the open 

 air to the well-hidden chambers where the animals 

 sleep, and where they have nests for their little ones. 

 Por the echidna is a famous burrower. Set him on 

 the sand, he gathers his feet under him, sticks his 

 long nose into the soil, and dives underground like a 

 mole. His clinging powers are remarkable ; digging 

 his long, powerful nails into the smallest crevices, he 

 retains his hold with a tenacity that nothing can un- 

 loose. Like the duckbill, which he resembles iu more 

 than one particular, he has the power of rolling him- 

 self into a compact ball, which he does when attacked 

 on ground into which he can not burrow, looking in 

 that posture like an immense chestnut bur. 



Like the duckbill, too, the porcupine ant-eater lays 

 eggs. The eggs are large, and inclosed in a tough 

 eggshell. After they are laid they are carried in a 

 pouch in a fold of the skin until they are hatched. 



JERBOAS AND JUMPING MICE. 



CHAMPION LEAPBRS. 



Walking about the wooded regions of almost any 

 State in the Union, a person may chance to see some- 

 thing like a little brown bird that takes short flights 

 of from eight to ten feet, and no sooner alights than 

 it is ofE again over bogs and bushes until lost to 

 view. It is, however, not often met in the daytime, 

 being nocturnal in its habits, and, in consequence, 



